TL;DR (2 minute summary; plz read if nothing else)

The bare minimum to design a show when you're starting from scratch:

  • You need to figure out what the lights available to you are and what they do. Have someone explain the uses of Source Fours, PARs, LEDs to you, as well as what gels are.
    • See some of the references for more of this information.
  • You should be familiar with the idea of a light plot and the information people expect on it - readability and actual content
    • See the attached example plot, and ask people for plots in the same space as you're working
    • Generally, you should try to at least be able to light people from the front and the back
    • Colors, side light and other things are even more exciting.
    • Make sure you have light in all the places people walk (go to Designer Run to find out where that is).
  • You should be familiar with all the play-world locations (ideally all the scenes [ideally, read the script]) in the play and think about what they look like.
  • You, or the master electrician (talk to them to figure out where division of responsibility lies) will coordinate the hanging and cabling of lights (where/how they get plugged in, this is sometimes not trivial)onto the ceiling during or around put-in, and then you will focus the lights; i.e. point them in the right places.
    • For specific hardware/cabling questions, see the Master Electrician page (especially if you also are or are working with a first-time Master Electrician).
  • During tech week, you'll combine the things you thought about before (where people are onstage, what world they are in) into cues which are "snapshots" - saved 'looks' in which the board remembers how bright each light is (and color, place, etc. if you're using intelligent fixtures). This can take a while.
  • Once all your cues are written, all you have to do is press "go" at the same time every day (or get someone else to), and the board will do the rest.
  • There's also strike but that's just put-in in reverse. Make sure you take gobos (cut-out patterns) out of lights.

Overview (for tryhards)

  • The very first thing you need to do as lighting designer is familiarize yourself with the script, read it (probably more than once).
    • Pick out themes that you think are important and might be able to translate into different looks.
      • (Contrasts tend to be easy to work with: winter vs. spring, Egypt vs. Rome, etc.)
    • Meet with the director, find out what they want to emphasize and if they have any ideas about how they want the stage to be lit.
      • At this stage, take in all suggestions you can get — feasibility can be worked out later.
    • Once you have an idea of how you want the scenes to look (generally after the semifinal set design is due), you need to figure out if you can do it.
      • The two main spaces the Ensemble uses are Kresge Little Theater and La Sala de Puerto Rico.
      • KLT has a large stock (an inventory list is in the PDF attached to this page); if you aren't doing anything too crazy, I doubt you'll run out of anything.
      • Sala's inventory (salainv.xls) is a bit smaller.
  • At this point you should also meet with the Technical Director (TD) to see what the set designs look like.
    • You need to know about major set pieces that may need to be lit, or different levels of playing areas that you will have to deal with.
    • You should also see a "designer run" so you have a more concrete idea of the blocking and general mood of the show.
  • Next, you must come up with a plot (specifics as to where each lighting fixture will be hung).
    • You need to pick what kind of light, and where it should be hung to illuminate a specific part of the stage in the desired manner — needless to say, this can take a bit of trial and error.
    • If in KLT, you should also decide if you are going to use a cyc.
    • Building the plot and writing a cuelist should happen semi-together – you can't write the full, specific cuelist if you don't know what lights you'll be working with, but you also shouldn't build a plot without having a sense of what moods you want to create and if you want any "special" cues (i.e. a spotlight for a specific scene).
  • Write a cuelist!
    • Here is an example of a cuelist from Fall 2022.
    • Each cue has two parts: when it happens and whathappens.
      • The when: Make sure to communicate with whoever's cueing you (usually the Stage Manager) about when you want to be cued / if you change things.
        • In terms of designing, a good rule of thumb is that lights should (can?) change whenever the mood changes in a scene.
        • This isn't a firm rule – if things are feeling a little too rushed, you can cut cues, or if you have a reeeeally long stretch that feels dull, you can add cues to add visual interest!
        • Try to have these finalized by the last rehearsal, so you have at least one chance to practice the final timing before performances.
      • The what: This is almost entirely up to you (as long as the cue is safe for the actors and the director is onboard).
        • It's usually helpful to make "generic" cues for the main locations of the show (e.g. a palace vs a forest) that you can then edit on a case-by-case basis.
        • These can be edited all the way up to the show (and even between shows!), although try to avoid surprising the actors! Communication is your friend.
  • Once you have a cuelist, it's time for papertech.
    • In the Ensemble, "papertech" is a meeting with the director where you walk them through your cues and get their feedback.
    • It is not the director's job to work on the small details of cues. Their job is to see the big picture. If the director is giving feedback that you're not finding helpful (or even finding nitpicky), please pleasecommunicate this.
      • Stage manager and sound designer are usually at papertech, so if you have concerns that the director will overstep, feel free to talk to either or both of them in advance.
    • On the other hand, the director will probably have a clear picture of scenes they want to look a certain way.
      • Be prepared to edit the cuelist – that's what papertech is for.
    • You should have a cuelist written before papertech so that the meeting doesn't take too long.
  • Put-in is usually the Sunday of papertech weekend.
    • "Put-in" is a full day of hanging lights and then programming as much as you can.
    • The TD is in charge at put-in, so if you're not sure what to expect, communicate with them.
    • In general, the lighting designer's job will be to tell your electricians where to focus each and every instrument once it's hung and cabled.
  • Q2Q (cue-to-cue) rehearsal (the first tech rehearsal after put-in) is, in the words of Jake Gunter (although the spelling "theater" instead of "theatre" suggests it may not have been written by Jake), "your chance to refine the cues live, in the theater, with the actors onstage".
    • In other words, lights and sound are in charge! Use that control while you have it. Stop scenes as needed and ask about the blocking if there's doubt.
    • Try to have the basic cues coded by Q2Q, but you don't have to have anything fancy done – if you have "generic cues" for each setting, try to program those in, and add timings so you can see how they work. But the fancy color balancing and stuff can be tweaked throughout the dress rehearsals.
    • Historical opinions:
      • As of Spring 2018, the Ensemble does not have a coherent opinion about what actually happens during Q2Q.
      • During the Fall 2017 production of Hamlet, the Ensemble quixotically was frustrated with the LDs for writing cues during Q2Q, thus implicitly expecting the LDs to have written all the cues in the 10ish hours between 7AM and the start of Q2Q rehearsal.
      • My take is: write as many cues as you can during this time. Don't let people get mad at you if cues are not written, because when were you supposed to do that anyways. Finish writing cues during/after Q2Q and ideally before the next tech rehearsal. During subsequent tech/dress runs, you can further refine cues, and (if necessary) the focuses of particular instruments. (Realize that much if not all of your free time during tech week may be spent in the theater.) Finally, sit back and enjoy the beauty of your work.

The Lighting Plot

Creating the light plot is your largest single task pre-tech week. Translating the stage look you want into a set of lighting instruments in space is an arduous task, and is best learned by doing — many times. Each designer has their own preferred method, and you will develop yours as you go along. The important thing is that your plot is readable by both you and your team, and that it communicates the needs of your design.

There are various types of lighting instruments available to you. In Sala, you have Source 4 ellipsoidals, Source 4 PARnels (mostly like a fresnel, but in the formfactor of a Source 4 PAR), scoops, strip lights, and a few miscellaneous fresnels and other things. In KLT, you'll have Source 4s, Source 4 PARs (the normal interchangeable-lens ones, not PARnels), fresnels, cyc cells (both hanging and ground-row), and strip lights. (Beware: the KLT strips are notoriously unreliable. We recommend not using them.) See "references" below for some more information about the functions of these different types of fixtures, if you are just learning or if you'd like a refresher.

As of Fall 2022, CAC requires us to make a plot in VectorWorks for every show we do. This means that the opinions on VectorWorks below are not really relevant unless this changes. Here is a guide for getting started on using VectorWorks for lighting design (and there are many video guides on YouTube).

---------------------OPINIONS START-----------------------------------

Jake Gunter wrote: "Use VectorWorks for your plot, unless you have a really good reason for using another CAD software. (VectorWorks offers a free student version; they may ask you to send them a picture of your student ID in order to download it.) Whatever you do, don't draw your plot by hand. Hand-drawn plots stopped being cool before you were born. VectorWorks template files of both Sala and KLT are attached to this page, for your use. If you're new to VectorWorks, a quick googling should bring you some good tutorials. (An in-person training from a competent experienced drafter is always a better option, though.)"

In my (Christopher Cassidy's) opinion, Vectorworks is not worth learning how to use if you are just starting out, or if you don't think you are going to LD multiple shows (read: there was no LD for this show so you got forced to do it), or if you are not a hardkore 1337 LD (read: <50 lights, <50 cues, and that's just fine), or if you have an even remotely weak computer (Vectorworks takes like 2-3 minutes to boot up on an average PC laptop). I (LD for multiple shows, done lights for years, E33 President) don't like it and don't really use it. It also has egregious compatibility issues (if someone makes something in VWX 2018, you can't read it in VWX 2017, etc.). There should be plots (.vwx and .pdf) attached to this page. I find hand-drawn light and cable plots very helpful, at least in the planning stages, so you don't misclick something in VWX and then spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get back to the view you had before. If your plot is simple, a hand-drawn plot is just fine. If you want a slightly more elegant plot, importing a screenshot into the glorious meme-studios of PowerPoint and MS Paint and just using circles/squares etc. for your instruments could work.

---------------------OPINIONS END-----------------------------------

While creating your plot, you should decide channel numbers for every instrument. A "channel" on the light board represents a complete connection of instrument(s) to dimmer(s), or addresses for intelligent instruments. During focus and afterwards you will probably refer to channel numbers (example: “bring up channel 19”). As such, it is important that the channel number arrangement makes sense to you so you can refer to the correct instrument/s quickly and easily. Some designers organize their channel numbers linearly along pipes; others organize their channel numbers by purpose (for example: front light is chs. 1-10, back light chs. 11-20, etc.). When working with intelligent instruments (LEDs, moving lights, etc.), the way channels and addresses work is slightly not-obvious. If you don't know/remember how DMX addresses work, see the Master Electrician page and the patch section of this page. Don't leave figuring out addresses for later, because it will cost a lot of time and pushing scaff around to fix.

You should also make copies of your plot to be used during hang. Ideally, you'll have a few copies in a large size like ARCH D (36" x 24"), and endless stacks (seriously, print out 20 or so) of smaller copies in 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" for giving out to everyone who needs one.

Paperwork

If you have a Master Electrician, it is their job to create the cable plot.  If you would prefer to do this or have an assistant LD who wants to design it, that is fine, but BE SURE TO COMMUNICATE WHATEVER YOU DECIDE WITH YOUR LIGHTS TEAM.

If you are designing the cable plot, continue reading:

Before starting put-in you should have some paperwork done. A channel sheet that tells what channel corresponds to what instrument, the focus of that instrument and which gel or gobo (if any) and any extra notes. Additionally which circuits (or addresses) correspond to a channel is also stated on this sheet. You should also make a magic sheet that shows each instrument organized by purpose. This sheet shows the lights in their general positions and which direction their beams will point.

Patch

Patching is simply telling the lighting board what channel corresponds to what circuit/address(es). Once you have patched you can refer to a channel and both you and the board knows which instrument you are referring to. This is necessary because cues will be written using only channel numbers and the levels you want for those channels. If you are using intelligent instruments, boards like the Ion (Sala) and the Element (KLT) know how many addresses those instruments take, and lump them all into one channel. For example, if you have a few ColorDashes in 10-channel mode on addresses 101, 111, 121, etc., you can patch them to channels 31, 32, 33, etc., because the board takes care of the addresses. See the Ion/Element (they have basically the same underlying software) manual if you don't know/remember how to do this. Here is a video guide. 

Color

Picking general the colors of your light is not difficult however deciding which particular gel to use is. Rosco, Lee and GAM (which also happens to be quietly owned by Rosco) are the three major types of gels used, with Rosco being the most widely used. Some of the questions you have to ask when picking a color are: what effect will this color have on stage? (Example R02 is warm but not overpowering, the feel will be sunny but not yellow). How will the set/costumes/actors look under this color light? (No one looks healthy in green light). Picking through hundreds of various gels is fairly frustrating, advice can be found on the Rosco website (they have good descriptions of what effect each gel has) and by asking those who know (again Karen is a good source). Color is part of what makes lighting design an art form; don’t leave the decisions to the last minute.  The Ensemble has a collection of gels: you can buy more at Backstage Hardware or order from ALPS. Someone will probably have to go to Backstage Hardware for something else at some point: coordinate with the TD to save trips.

Hang/Focus

Ideally the lighting designer would not be deeply involved in hang, they would hand over the plot to the master electrician and the lights would get hung and circuited as desired. Of course this doesn’t happen. Even with the best of plots and paperwork something might seem perfectly clear to the designer and not to anyone else. During hang you should be around to help and answer any confusing points of the plot.

Doing a 'rough focus' during hang (point the lights in roughly the right direction, without actually having the lights turn on) can save time during actual focus because you will quickly discover problems like insufficient cable slack, lights clashing into each other, etc. Also remember to plug lights in as you hang them.

When hanging lights that will receive a barn door/gels, make sure you orient the light such that the barn door/gels will be slid-in from the top (and not the bottom); sometimes lights don't have a latch that would otherwise keep the gels/barn door from sliding out, and even if they have a latch, it can be worn-down, so make sure you aren't working against gravity.

When using tie lines to tie up slacking cables, try to ensure the tie line can be undone with one hand; this will make life much easier during strike. Official E33 practice is a standard shoe knot (overhand then overhand with 2 loops), Christopher also likes the slip knot (overhand then overhand with one loop). Zipties are not recommended as they require scissors to be undone.

Focus is the time for the LD to be the star. You are responsible for each light being focused in the correct position, you make sure that each lamp is casing light in the way and in the area you intended when making your plot. However you decide to run focus is fine as long as you get each light to do what you want in a reasonable amount of time. Remember to minimize how long you keep each light on, because they get hot rapidly.

Programming Cues

Once everything is focused you need to write the cues. Having a well-organized channel schedule will make this easier. Essentially you need to listen to what the director wants for each cue and find the levels for each light that make that look. During Q2Q pay close attention to how the cues look with the actors and the timing between cues. Once you’ve seen what the cues look like with actors adjust them as necessary. Also it is important that you are available to watch run-throughs during prod week this way you can find any holes in you washes or a scene that isn’t quite right. Keep adjusting the cues until you (and the director) think you’ve gotten the best you can.

Sala has an ETC Ion board. The manual can be found here. It is pretty straight forward and EXHAUSTIVE (it'll answer any question you come up with).

KLT has an ETC Element. Its manual can be found here.

Backstage lights

Having appropriate lighting backstage is a big help. This includes a lamp at booth (there should be a clip lamp with a blue gel over it in the office) and light for actors backstage (especially near the props table). On some occasions we've had a dedicated stage light for the backstage area that's just on dim for the duration of the show. Alternatively you can use the lights under spacedock. They're controlled by the lightswitch on the column north of space dock (just the normal switch, not the panel. That controls the house lights). If half of the spacedock lights are blacked out (paper or black foil taped over the light works great) and half are gelled blue (gel the light not the waffle) that is incredibly useful.

Equipment the Ensemble Owns

It is the job of the lighting equipment manager (term job) to keep track of these things and update this list. As of 5/23/19 the Shakespeare Ensemble owns and stores in its office:

  • 8x PAR-size top hats
  • 2x Source 4 size top hats (on rope with PAR-size top hats)
  • 11x long safety cables from R&J Fall 2016
  • 7x normal safety cables - black ones may be stolen from E33?

  • 1x largely depleted black wrap roll - 24" wide
  • 1x largely depleted black wrap roll - 12" wide
  • 1x Rosco gobo catalog
  • 1x Image multiplexer
  • 1x box of a bunch of really short safety cables (seem like a mistake, I have no idea what these would be used for)
  • 1x box of 720 kb 3.5" floppy disks
  • 1x bag of file folder tabs (for gel boxes, presumably)
  • 1x extremely dim and antiquated flashlight that should probably be a prop
  • 1x bar for holding long, ceiling CFL-like lamp
  • 1x oil pencil
  • 1x light symbol stencil
  • 3x flexible LED strip lights
  • 2x power adapters
  • 1x bag of cable ends that seem related to the LED strips
  • 1x DMX decoder, presumably for controlling the LED strips with DMX
  • 1x clouds gobo strip
  • 1x night sky gobo strip
  • 1x box of glass gobos
  • 1x plate of welder's glass... I don't know why either

  • 2x gel boxes

  • 1 bucket o' tieline, with 3 wrenches and a pair o' gloves and a measuring tape and a preciousssss pair o' scissors
    • Tieline roll itself is getting very thin, definitely replace!

  • 1 milk crate of cables:
    • 6x 50' Edison cables (1 has 3-fer female end)
    • 2x 25' Edison cables (1 has 2-fer female end)
    • 1x 15' Edison cable

  • 1 red toolbox, containing:
    • 2x multimeters
    • 1x cubetap
    • 2 pairs of mini wrenches
    • 5 normal wrenches
    • a screwdriver
    • 3 stagepin testers

  • 4x power strips (in their own milk crate)

  • 1 milk crate of assorted junk, including:
    • 1x FLK lamp - for the Altman Fresnels
    • 7x 52W incandescent bulbs - presumably for use as practicals
    • 2x curly CFL lamps
    • 2x 75W "Ushio Halogen Display Lamp" - probably for incandescent footlights?
    • 1x strand of colored Christmas lights
    • 1x base for incadescent bulb, but wall end is cut off

Contacts

  • e33: a student run production company. You can rent instruments from them (like 19 degree Source 4 ellipsoidals or color-mixing LEDs, which do not exist in Sala inventory). Email e33@mit.edu.
  • ALPS/4Wall Boston: A lighting company located in Randolph MA, about a 20-30 minute drive from campus if you leave at noon, a 1.5 hour drive if you leave at 4PM. Useful if you want to rent more exciting equipment: like a black-light, strobe, etc. Visit their website here.
  • High Output: A lighting company with an office in Brighton MA, from whom you can buy gels and rent other stuff (like ALPS).
  • Josh Higgason (higgason@mit.edu): a wonderfully nice.
  • Kevin Fulton (kefulton@mit.edu): MTA tech, might do Ion trainings.
  • Meredith Sibley, CAC Manager. She can help you with any logistical issues you run may run into. Email: mfsibley@mit.edu
  • Mike Bromberg: Class of 1970, does lighting for G&S and MTG.  Can be spotted in the wild by his tie-dye plumage.  Extremely knowledgeable; also owns lots of equipment and will rent to student group for cheap. Here is his price list and inventory as of Spring 2012. As of 2018 we don't particularly like him anymore, and he may be banned from MTG/G&S.

References and resources

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